Ten NASCAR Drivers Who Had Their Careers Cut Short
Adam Petty
It should come as no surprise to no fans that Adam Petty could very well have been the future of NASCAR. He could probably have made a run at his grandfather’s and Dale Earnhardt’s record of seven championships in the cup Series if the young man was still alive today. That’s not hype, he was just that talented!
While many fans might think that Adam Petty was just a victim of the hype train set up by his family heritage, he proved it was much more than that during his short career in The ARCA REMAX Series, Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series. Not only was Adam Petty able to win an ARCA REMAX Series race in his very first start, he also finished 6th in the very first Xfinity race of his career.
Petty ultimately finished 20th in Xfinity Series points in 1999 and his family was already working on a full-time ride for Petty the very next year. They were also planning to run Petty in a few Cup races the next year to get him ready for a full-time Winston Cup campaign in 2001.
Adam Petty was involved in a horrific Busch Series practice crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that ultimately took his life. The incident occurred when Petty’s throttle got stuck and caused him to plummet head first into the wall. Petty was killed upon impact and an autopsy later determined that he died from a basilar skull fracture. He was only 19 years old at the time.
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